Negotiating pedagogy development: Learning to teach writing in a service-learning context
Abstract
Research has called for courses to be developed that provide preservice teachers opportunities to actively engage their pedagogies under construction in order to effectively translate their beliefs into sound instructional practice. This article presents research that examined how a service-learning writing tutoring program affected preservice teachers' pedagogy of writing instruction. Students enrolled in the course Teaching Writing in Elementary School spent an hour each week during a semester at a local community center working as writing tutors with elementary students. The service-learning experience represented a “third space” of interaction, where course requirements and children's needs converged. The preservice teachers experienced pedagogical dissonance as they experienced tension in “working the hyphen” between the service and the learning. A negotiation model emerged from the preservice teachers' experiences, which this article shares and explains through the description of three preservice teachers' experiences. Learning how to negotiate this tension may provide preservice teachers with the skills to work as third-space practitioners when faced with similar challenges as future educators.
Reference
Kelley, K. (2007) Negotiating pedagogy development: Learning to teach writing in a service-learning context. Action in Teacher Research, 29 (2), 94-108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01626620.2007.10463452
Journal
Action in Teacher Education
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
no
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
- Southeastern United States
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
- Field-based centers
- University
Preservice Participants
- Undergraduates (university based program)
Preservice Sample Size
3
Other Participant Data
- service-learning site coordinator
- University instuctors
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- course materials
- fieldnotes
- Interviews
- Tutoring reflections
Data Analysis Tools
- coding (non-specific)
- Constant comparative analysis
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
Research Questions
(Aim)
"To analyze the impact that participation in a service-learning writing tutoring program had on preservice teachers' pedagogy of writing instruction" (p. 96)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
(Aim) "...to examine how preservice teachers enacted their pedagogy of writing instruction within the instructional context of a service-learning experience" (p. 96)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes